Talk about this remarkable moment. Joining us is cnn president ial historian douglas blinkly arink micha michael dantonio. Well, it very unusual to have five former president s together. Sometimes you see it at an inauguration or at a funeral, but jimmy carter has been very ill, fighting cancer. He said hes feeling better now and has it under control and bush 41 has been confined to a wheel chair and doesnt do many public appearances. So to see them all there and remind our country about the devastation of hurricanes but also the hero imof tism of the responders and volunteers and the fact we can all pitch in a little money and help puerto rico and help the u. S. Virgin islands and texas rebound i think is a very heartening and positive things. Some were democrats, some republicans, but they all come together for whats best for america is a good effort after a bleak week like this. Is it unusual that trump wouldnt attend an event like this . When you think of it, he could have gotten some boos. It otherwise would have been a big footing thing for him to be there. Probably in the end the video message and let the five expresident s have that evening is for the best. Hmm. And, michael, just two days ago, as youll recall, former president s george w. Bush and barack obama delivered thinly veiled attacks on trump, politics under his administration. Is it normal for former president s to speak out giips the curre against the current kma commanders in chief in. We know there are occasions when it happens, typically critiques of policy but it is most unusual, i think, to have a republican and a democrat sounding the same notes. And i think what they were talking about was Civil Society and their joint and shared commitment to a certain way of conducting the presidency. And i think theyve both and really probably all the president s in texas tonight recognize that were in a different place, that we have a white house that go ahead. Not to interrupt but i want to listen in on this significant moment of the five past living president s on stage there. O say, can you see by the dawns early light what so proudly we hailed at the twilights last gleaming . Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight oer the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming . And the rockets red glare the bombs bursting in air gave proof through the night that our flag was still there oh, say, does that starspangled banner yet wave oer the land of the free and the home of the brave . Youre watching life as the five former president s join each other on strange, all there united as they raise money for hurricane victims. Again, this is a very rare, unusual moment there. But they joined each other on stage in texas and i want to bring in our president ial historians again. As you watch that, douglas, what went through your mind . I recall just how jimmy carter really started a lot of this. Not only is he a nobel peace winning prize expresident but he reached out to gerald ford many years back and here they were rivals against each other in 1976 and they became best friends. Jimmy carter gave the eulogy at gerald fords funeral and we saw when Hurricane Katrina had hit in 2005, bill clinton and George Herbert walker bush, former wivawife rivals, went against each other in 1992. Theyve become very close since then and jokes that bill clinton has become a member of the bush family. There are at times moments that we have states people that can heal the country and these five gentlemen are heros to americans. They withstood the presidency, theyre all very Public Opinion polls have all five of them higher than the sitting President Donald Trump right now. It a special night in college station, texas, to say i was there when five president s took the stage. Yeah, i mean, no matter what your politics are, its just an incredible moment. Douglas, i want to ask you actually, were going to listen in on this. Please be seated. Thank you so much. If tomorrow all the things were gone i worked for all my life in i hf i had to start again just my children and my wife i thank my lucky stars to be living here today because the flag still stands for freedom and they cant take that away cant take that away, take that away and im proud to be an american where at least i know im free and i wont forget the men who died who gave that right to me and id gladly stand up next to you and defend her still today because there aint no doubt i love this land sing it god bless the usa yeah, oh, oh from the lakes of minnesota to the hills of tennessee across the plains of texas and sea to shining sea from detroit down to houston and new york to l. A. Theres pride in every american heart and its time we stand and say im proud to be an american where at least i know im free and i wont forget the men who died who gave that right to me and id gladly stand up next to you and defend her till the day because there aint no doubt i love this land god bless the usa im proud to be an american where at least i know im free and i wont forget the men who died who gave that right to me and im happy to stand up next to you and defend her until the day because there aint no doubt i love this land, god bless the usa [ cheers and applause ] good evening, everyone. We are coming to you live from texas a m, college station, texas. Let me first start by thanking the a m sending cadets for that wonderful performance with me. Please. [ cheers and applause ] thank you so very much, cadets. As we continue with our show, id officially like to welcome you to the deep from the heart one america concert, benefiting those recovering and rebuilding from the recent devastating storms. Tonight is a very special night of hope and unity, one america, united, helping our fellow brothers and sisters. Texas, the rest of the country, we are strong. To all those who have been devastated by the recent natural diasto disasters, we say weve got your back. Five past living president s there, all united to raise money for those victims. That is Lee Greenwood who was sending and now emceeing that event as we keep an eye on what is happening down there. You see former president bush, his wife barbara bush there in the audience. Really just a rare, unusual im sorry, laura bush, i should say, really a rare, significant moment for these five past president s to come together. And i want to bring in our president ial historians again and just kind of sum up what were seeing there tonight, the five members there of the most exclusive club of the world. All for a good cause to race money for these hurricane victims. Michael. Well, i was reflects on what douglas had to say about president s ford and carter, who hes written about and knows their record and their stories very well. These are two men who contested an election fiercely. I actually covered it in New Hampshire during the general election and the primaries and i recall how hard they fought. But the dignity and Mutual Respect that were seeing here is really remarkable and inspiring. And i think this is something that these former president s can give the country. I think its a dose of good medicine for all of us. And it really is the epitome of patriotism. It certainly is. Douglas, i want to go to you and ask you about the interview that the New York Times did with former president jimmy carter. It was really withone of the mo substantive interviews hes done in a long time, it was with him and the former first lady rosaline. In it he tells he wants to work for President Trump to help deescalate tensions with north korea. What do you make of that . Carter has always been that way. Since hes left the white house, he tells whoever is president or secretary of state, use me, im here. And they have. Youre looking at 41, president bush there had jimmy carter help during his presidency to monitor elections in nicaragua and panama. Jimmy carter went into haiti during bill clintons presidency to try to deescalate tension there is. Jimmy carter believes in public service. Its not just the Carter Center attacking guinea worm disease or river blindness or election monitoring. His work with habitat for humanity is just like this event tonight. Its about americans pulling to the in a public sphere to help people. And right now im in texas, i teach in houston. A lot of people need habitat for humanity like homes rebuilt. Their insurance didnt cover the damage for the hurricanes and carter has become the cymbal s r grabbing a hammer and nail and getting out there. Unfortunately President Trump has never made that call to him. One would hope President Trump would start reaching out to elder states people. In Great Britain we have house of lords. In the united states, they freelance, these expresident s. But they are walking citadels of walking knowledge and was in of what it like to be president. As we all know, jimmy carter has battled cancer. Now there he is at this concert joining the four other past living president s. Im not sure, michael, if you had a chance to read this interview he did with maureen dowd of the New York Times. Whats truly fascinating and what caught my attention was when it came to President Trump, he was actually pretty forgiving, pretty understanding. Almost came to his defense in a way. And you contrast that with the other two speeches weve heard from the past president s, bush and obama just in the last week where they had these sort of thinly veiled criticisms of President Trump and really the politics under his administration. Well, one of the remarkable things about president carter is his generosity of spirit. Its always been there. And i also think that he is so deeply committed to his Christian Faith and has lived it so thoroughly that none of this surprises me. Its so consistent with his character, his ideals and his commitment to peace and to the world. When we talk about the great expertise that these president s have, their experiences, 32 of the last 40 years, the presidency, thats a remarkable thing. And i think they each bring goodwill with them wherever they go in the world. Ironically bill clinton i would say is second to president carter in the example hes set in his postpresidency and yet he came in for such a hard time during the campaign. The Clinton Foundation was somehow turned into this negative when really its one of the great forces for good in the world. So you have all this talent, you have all this expertise and all the goodwill thats stored up on both sides of the political divide and around the world. Its a considerable resource. And if President Trump could bring himself to deploy it, imagine what he could accomplish. All right, michael dantonio, douglas brinkley, thank you so. Coming up, trump said he plans to release the last classified files on the j. F. K. Assassination. What might be in there and will it put those kennedy conspiracy theories to rest . burke at farmers, weve seen almost everything so we know how to cover almost anything. Even a swing set standoff. And we covered it, july first, twentyfifteen. Talk to farmers. We know a thing or two because weve seen a thing or two. We are farmers. Bumpadum, bumbumbumbum alright, i brought in high protein to help get us moving. 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For decades, the assassination of john f. Kennedy has haunted americans. President trump intends to allow the release of more than 3,000 classified documents related to the kennedy assassination. This decision comes just days before a deadline set by congress back in 1992 in the wake of oliver stones film j. F. K. There are hundreds of documents being held by the government. All these documents are yours, the peoples documents, you paid for it. But because the government thinks you might be too disturbed to face the reality or you might lynch those involved, you cannot see these documents for another 75 years. And back with me now, president ial historian douglas brinkley, author of j. F. K. , a vision for america, published in celebration of the centennial of j. F. K. s birth. Do you believe these documents will reveal any new information in j. F. K. s death . I dont think theyre going to reveal any big news, look there was a second or third guns man, but there are serious academic scholars and this is a trove of new material from the fbi and cia. When we talk about 3,000 files, each file is going to be very large and were going to have cia profiling done for the first time of lee harvey oswald, were going to find out perhaps what he was doing in mexico city at the time. And were also going to see how the agencies, fbi and cia handled the kennedy assassination. So it is going to be very rich for scholars. But i dont think its going to change the main narrative of the assassination. And do you have any sort of contacts in regards to why context as to why there was this deadline set, why theyve been so tightly held up until now . Well, because the Warren Commission itself was done quite quickly. Lyndon johnson got earl warren to head it and had an ace panel determine what happened and now ever since the Warren Commission report has come out, its just fed Conspiracy Theory after Conspiracy Theory. But oliver stones movie was a big deal when it came out and congress thought, you know what, lets just kick it down the road 25 years, we dont have to worry about it. Well, lo and behold, dronald trump said before the deadline thats looming, we are going to get to see all these documents. I think he did the right thing. Im very interested in looking at these documents this week. He did have a caveat, doug. He said hell release them subject to the receipt of further information. What should we make of that . That a lot of these documents have parts that may be redacted or excised out for security reasons. Its hard for me to imagine what those could be this many decades later, but there may be a couple of spots where its blanked out and it will just conspiracy theories, what are they covering up on that page . Do you think donald trump is releasing these files as a play to his base . I do think so. You know, he floated the conspiracy in the campaign that ted cruz, senator of texas or his father. Yeah, the father. It was the cruz family. So hes dabbled in these conspiracy theories. But, look, he had a deadline looming, he had to make a yes or no decision and i think he went with transparency, did the right thing and certainly it appeals to that alex jones, info war kind of people who dont trust the federal government and want everything released thinking that theres smoking guns everywhere. One thing is for sure, there is this enduring fascination with his life and his death and the circumstances surrounding it. Douglas brinkley, thank you given. Thanks. And as we go to break, lets listen in as singer songwriter Robert Earl Keen performs at the Hurricane Relief concert. In south florida today, unimaginable sadness and loss for the family of a u. S. Soldier killed in combat overseas. That was la David Johnsons wife you saw kissing his casket, now widow, six months pregnant with two little children we see in the video. It is the burial ceremony and final resting place for the army sergeant. He was 25 years old when his unit was ambushed by ice yes, sir isis in niger. He wasnt the only one, there were three other service members. Heres pentagon correspondent barbara starr. Sergeant Ladavid Johnson was find nearly a mile away. They all caution this is the early picture and the investigation continues. The pentagon is still looking at the exact circumstances of how he became separated from his unit. The entire team, led by green berets, has been interviewed about when they last saw johnson. The u. S. Team had stopped in a town on the niger mali border to pick up supplies, including food and water and then they met with village elders. Investigators believe the ambush may have begun when the u. S. Soldiers were back in their vehicles, possibly even driving. As those killed are laid to rest, defense secretary james mattis on capitol hill briefed senator john mccain one day after he threatened subpoenas if the pentagon doesnt start telling congress what it knows. I felt that we were not getting a sufficient amount of information, and we are clearing a lot of that up now. Reporter mattis refusing to publicly comment why the fbi is now involved in gathering intelligence on the suspected isis militant that ambushed the u. S. Forces. The fbi would have jurisdiction to investigate and bring back the perpetrators tos u. S. If it can be done. Reporter the pressure is mounting for a public explanation. What did happen to Sergeant Johnson . He was abandoned for two days, for 48 hours. Why . Why didnt they pick him up and put him on their shoulders like they did the other fallen comrades and put him on a helicopter and take him to safety . He could have still been alive. Reporter but mattis is fiercely adamant the troops on the ground did everything they could. Having seen some of the news reports, the u. S. Military does not leave its troops behind and i would just ask you that you not question the